Cumberland Valley and Carlisle flipped a coin Wednesday night, and both sides came up stunned.
The Eagles and Thundering Herd wrestled to a tie on the scoreboard (36-36), in penalty points, pins, technical falls, major decisions and first points scored, and they went all the way down to Criteria I, most nearfall points, to settle their Mid-Penn Commonwealth opener with the most narrow of CV wins.
Cumberland Valley junior Ruston Dzielak’s pin in the final bout at 113 pounds tied the match in all those areas and ultimately led the Eagles to an improbable win that required a detailed checklist to determine.
The outcome felt like odd punishment for Dzielak’s opponent, Clayton Shughart, who made him work for everything he got. Dzielak eventually turned him at the 5:44 mark in the third period, but the extra nearfall points he earned made the difference in the dual.
“I knew we’d go to criteria,” Dzielak said. “I didn’t know that we’d win. I guess it was a good thing it took him too long to get pinned. I got a couple of nearfall points. He had gummy worms for shoulders.”
Dzielak went into that final match knowing exactly what he needed to do in order to give his team a shot. Still, neither side knew how the chips would fall when he did.
“I like to pin anyway,” Dzielak said. “I had the most pins on the team last year for a reason. I don’t really like to wrestle full matches.”
Shughart also had clear marching orders with his team holding a 36-30 lead. Evenso, avoiding a pin was easier said than done against an opponent who knows how to score from the top position.
“We flat out told him, ‘Don’t get pinned. Battle. Wrestle,’” Carlisle coach Joe Wilson said. “And I thought Clayton did a great job with it. He wasn’t just laying out there stalling. He was pushing the action. He took some shots on him, but when they get on top, they’re so good on top with their bars. Once they start working that shoulder, he got him in a position where he was patient and was able to turn him for the pin.
“We were 16 seconds away from beating Cumberland Valley. Clayton fought his butt off. He just kept battling, and we were so close.”
As dazed as Wilson was about how close his team came to a program-defining win, Cumberland Valley coach Dave Heckard walked off the mat just as stunned. Carlisle did everything right in the upper weights in a match that started at 120 pounds, and Carlisle looked to have turned the corner when Osvaldo Alvarez and Noah Clawson went back-to-back with falls at 285 and 106 pounds, respectively.
Alvarez’s second-period pin over Connor Mundis was a huge swing for Carlisle that knotted the match at 30-30. Giving up six points in that match wasn’t in CV’s plans, but then again neither was a closer-than-expected 12-5 decision by Jake Lucas at 195 pounds nor another setback when Carlisle’s Dylan White outlasted Dontey Rogan in a toss-up match at 220.
That stretch helped Carlisle turn a 30-21 deficit into a 36-30 lead with one bout to go.
“Carlisle has a nice team and Joe puts in a lot of work in the offseason,” Heckard said. “His kids are buying into his program, and they’re going to be a tough out this year for a lot of teams. Those teams wrestled hard, and we got away with one tonight.”
This match carried with it a ton of significance for a Carlisle team looking to turn a corner and shake up the Commonwealth Division. But instead of a win the ascending Thundering Herd wanted, a 19-year losing streak to CV turned into 20, but with a cruel twist.
Wilson and his coaching staff wore black suits with white shirts and black ties with hopes of ending that streak and sending a message.
“We were hoping it was a funeral for a long overdue losing streak,” Wilson said. “Maybe next year.”